Murderer Axel Rudakubana has begun a sentence stretching more than half a century inside one of Britain’s toughest prisons, where he will rub shoulders with the nation’s most infamous inmates – and, say insiders, he will never stop being a target for others wanting to attack him for his heinous crimes.
The teenage killer, who was handed a 52-year term for the Southport stabbings, is currently residing in Belmarsh in south-east London – a top security prison that houses many of Britain’s most dangerous killers, sex offenders and terrorists.
He is likely to be there until he is 70 after being handed the longest sentence ever given to someone of his age – though experts say it is unlikely he will ever be released.
His neighbours are likely to include recently-convicted Daniel Khalife, who notoriously escaped from prison and went on the run, Urfan Sharif, who was convicted of murdering his 10-year-old daughter, Sara, following a campaign of abuse and Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered Southend West MP David Amess in 2021.
Other Belmarsh inmates include serial rapist and burglar Delroy Grant, former television presenter Paul Ballard, who was convicted of rape and death by dangerous driving and murderer Danyal Hussein.
Rudakubana will also share quarters with neo-Nazi David Copeland, who carried out the London nail bombings in 1999, Louis De Zoysa, who shot dead an on-duty police sergeant ay Croydon police station in 2020, park murderer Khairi Saadallah and Grind killer Stephen Port.
As the Southport monster starts his sentence today, some say he is in for a ‘bumpy’ ride’, with fellow inmates racing to maim or kill him, it has been claimed.
Even the ‘nonces’ – a term of paedophiles – will ‘want him dead’, one career criminal told MailOnline today.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been jailed for a minimum of 52 years and is currently in Belmarsh – but prisoners, past and present, have predicted he will be attacked
Belmarsh, in south-east London, is a top security prison that houses many of Britain’s most dangerous killers, sex offenders and terrorists
Protecting Rudakubana, pictured yesterday in a prison van, will be difficult and expensive, MailOnline has been told
‘He’ll never be safe and I wouldn’t be surprised if the screws [guards] don’t stand in anyone’s way if someone came for him.’
On a Reddit thread former prisoners said that if Rudakubana can’t be killed, he will be maimed, most likely with ‘prison napalm’ – a term for sugar dissolved in boiling water that is thrown on someone causing life-changing burns and scarring.
One said: ‘People on life sentences who have kids pride themselves on hurting people like this. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he gets everything that’s coming to him.’
Another wrote: ‘I’m sure they’ll give him an express ride to hell’.
A third said that Sara Sharif’s father, who was attacked with the lid of a tin of tuna, was a sign of what could happen to Rudakubana.
Rich Jones, an Army veteran who served seven years for conspiracy to supply cocaine, said today that Rudakubana will be attacked sooner rather than later.
‘If people can get to him they will get to him and it will be a matter of once he gets on the wings, if someone has an axe to grind in there, and they want to grind it, they will grind it with him because of what he has done,’ he said.
Mr Jones, now an public speaker and author, told the Liverpool Echo: ‘There will be some sort of justice somewhere down the line and it will be something he has to deal with for the rest of his life.
Daniel Khalife, who escaped from HM Wandsworth, was found guilty of spying for Iran and is now at Belmarsh
Another notorious Belmarsh inmate is Stephen Port, known as the Grinr killer
David Copeland, a neo-Nazi who carried out the London nail bombings in 1999
Serial rapist and burglar Delroy Grant is now likely to rub shoulders with Axel Rudakubana
Tommy Robinson was at Belmarsh prison but may have been moved for his own safety
‘He will be looking at the fact that he may have the rest of his life in prison and being locked up he will have his thoughts. I hope that gets inside his head and starts to cause him his own justice.’
Like Tommy Robinson, who is currently serving 18 months for contempt of court, Rudakubana could be moved out of Belmarsh to other prisons around the UK for his own safety and held in isolation.
Other options include Full Sutton in York or Frankland Prison in Durham.
If he is put into isolation, he would still be entitled to exercise, showers and phone calls home.
Robinson is currently thought to be in solitary confinement at Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes, having started out at Belmarsh.
Rudakubana was yesterday jailed for at least 52 years for killing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, as well as the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
He was spared a whole-life term only because the horrific crime on July 29 last year happened nine days before his 18th birthday, when he was a juvenile.
But Mr Justice Goose, passing down 13 life sentences, said: ‘It is likely he will never be released.’
Axel will serve out his sentence at HMP Belmarsh
Family members in Liverpool Crown Court took an audible breath as the sentence, thought to be the longest punishment handed to a killer of his age, was announced. Others held hands and hugged.
In harrowing victim impact statements, the girls’ families told how their lives had been destroyed. Alice’s parents Sergio and Alexandra Aguiar said: ‘Life without Alice is not living at all.’
Elsie’s mother Jenni Stancombe said of Rudakubana: ‘What you did was not only cruel and pure evil, it was the act of a coward.’
Mr Justice Goose said: ‘He wanted to carry out the mass murder of innocent and happy young girls.
‘Many might describe what he did as evil. Who could dispute it?’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said there was a ‘strong case for amending the law’ so teenagers can receive whole life orders. And Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said he had asked the Attorney General to review the sentence as ‘unduly lenient’.
The judge said he believed Rudakubana would have killed all 26 children at the dance class had some youngsters not managed to escape and raise the alarm.
Although the horrific crime did not meet the legal definition of terrorism, Mr Justice Goose said: ‘His culpability for this extreme level of violence is equivalent in its seriousness to terrorist murders.
‘What he did has caused such shock and revulsion to the whole nation, that it must be viewed as being at the extreme level.’
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer pledged to rethink the definition of terrorism to provide greater emphasis on loners plotting atrocities after viewing extremist material online.
The judge also said he believed that if he had not attacked the event, Rudakubana – who had followed instructions on inflicting fatal knife wounds gleaned from an Al Qaeda manual – would have used a quantity of home-made ricin found under his bedroom floorboards somewhere else.
The court heard the deadly poison, again produced following instructions in the terror manual the murderer had downloaded three times, could have been capable of killing up to 12,500 people if further refined.
Yesterday’s five-hour sentencing hearing started 50 minutes late after Rudakubana – born in Cardiff to Christian parents who arrived in the UK having escaped the Rwandan genocide – refused to leave his cell. He was earlier seen by paramedics in prison and assessed as fit to attend.
The court was shown chilling footage of Rudakubana on a five-mile taxi ride from his home in Banks, Lancashire, to Southport.
A green hood pulled over his head and wearing a facemask, he got out of the taxi, ignoring requests from the driver to pay the £10 fare. He told a garage owner who tried to intervene: ‘What are you going to do about it?’
Rudakubana then entered the dance studio, inflicting carnage in just 12 minutes. Dance teacher Leanne Lucas, who was stabbed herself, urged the girls to ‘run away, run away’ and the footage showed screaming children running for their lives, some collapsing in the car park.
Dashcam footage from interior of taxi showing Southport killer Axel Rudakubana exiting the car before he launched the attack
Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar all died in the attack last July
In one painful scene, an eight-year-old girl escaping the building was shown being dragged back inside. She suffered horrendous injuries but survived.
Parents arriving to collect their children faced a scene one father likened to a ‘war zone’ outside the building as he struggled to recognise his daughter whose hair was matted with blood. Ms Lucas, 36, said she believed Rudakubana ‘targeted us because we were women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey’.
Fellow dance teacher Heidi Liddle, who was unhurt, pushed children towards the stairs then hid in a toilet with an eight-year-old girl and locked the door – urging the terrified youngster to be quiet as Rudakubana tried the handle.
Only when she heard other children begging him to stop the carnage did she realise that not all had escaped. Hearing the disturbance, businessman John Hayes – based in a neighbouring office – ventured on to the landing and saw Rudakubana holding his knife over the body of Bebe King.
He retreated, followed by the defendant who ‘swiped’ at him. As Mr Hayes, 63, tried to grab the weapon, Rudakubana stabbed him in the leg.
Bodycam footage from two police sergeants who were the first to arrive and confronted Rudakubana at the top of the stairs showed him obeying instructions to drop his weapon.
Bebe could be seen lying on the landing. Elsie Dot Stancombe was found in the dance studio. Both girls had unspeakable injuries.
Last night, Ms Stancombe urged restraint in reporting the details of the injuries, fearing graphic details of her daughter’s murder could be ‘exploited’ on social media platforms for ‘fuelling hatred’.
Alice da Silva Aguiar collapsed outside and died 14 hours later. Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said Rudakubana’s warped interest in genocide and mass murder had driven him to kill.
‘Having researched atrocities committed by others, the evidence suggests that he set out to emulate them on July 29,’ the prosecutor said.
‘Three children were killed, two of whom suffered particularly horrific injuries which are difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic.
‘His only purpose was to kill, and he targeted the youngest, most vulnerable in order to spread the greatest level of fear and outrage, which he succeeded in doing.’
In October 2019, as a 13-year-old schoolboy, the court heard, Rudakubana phoned Childline and asked: ‘What should I do if I want to kill somebody?’ before taking a knife into school with the intention of confronting a classmate he accused of bullying him. He was then expelled.
He was referred to the Prevent counter-extremism programme three times for viewing disturbing material online between 2019 and 2021, while police were called to his house five times and it has emerged there were 15 missed chances for the authorities to intervene.
Defence barrister Stan Reiz KC said of Rudakubana, who has been diagnosed with autism: ‘There is no psychiatric evidence that could suggest a mental disorder. However, he did make a transition from a normal, well-adjusted child to someone capable of committing such shocking, senseless violence.’
The Prime Minister has promised a public inquiry into the failings to stop Rudakubana and laws will also be tightened on knife sales.
Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza said last night there could be ‘no doubt that there was a failure of the state to protect these innocent children from Axel Rudakubana’.
